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The Funny First Words Of The Third Man On The Moon

September 25, 2015

Written byCuriosity Staff

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In November 1969, Charles "Pete" Conrad became the third man on the moon as he commanded the Apollo 12 mission. This mission had Conrad on the lunar surface for seven hours and 45 minutes with Alan L. Bean as they set up a nuclear generator to power later experiments. As serious as the task at hand was, the words he said when he first set foot on the moon were much more light-hearted. Conrad had planned out exactly what he would say in advance, all in an effort to prove to one Italian reporter, Oriana Fallaci, that the government didn't feed these poignant lines to astronauts. He told Fallaci exactly what he would say, and bet $500 that he would indeed follow through. He stuck to the plan when it came time for moon boots to hit the lunar dust, saying "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." According to Conrad, he never got the money from the bet.